Hello Jackson
Davies on the
stage again

HEN THE
Beachcombers
came to an

abrupt halt last year after
an amazing 19-year stint,
West Vancouver actor
Jackson Davies thought his
cop days were over.

That was, of course, until the
folks over at MacGyver cast him as
— you guessed it — a bluecoat for
four upcoming episodes.

“tt must be the moustache or
something,’ Davies mutters to
himself as he settles into a chair.

Having played the goofy
straight-laced cop, Constable J.
Constable for 16 years, it’s hard
to imagine Davies out of uniform.

From the first day he set foot on
the Beachcombers set (Davies
didn’t have any lines — he played
a rookie cop. But an impromtu
performance — in which he split a
root beer popsicle and offered half
to his superior officer — so im-
pressed Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation producers that they
continued writing parts for him ),
until December when CBC execu-
tives pulled the piug on the series,
he was part of a Canadian tradi-
tion, which, like the Dlue waters of
Howe Sound and Molly’s Reach,
became an institution in the minds
of British Columbians.

Beachcombers cast members
were understandably saddened by
the program's demise, and Davies
was no exception.

“I've got mixed feelings about
it ending. | was hoping we'd go
one more year and tie Gunsmoke
as the longest-running TV series in
North America,” he smiles. “A
lot of people said when it ended
that they felt they lost a part of
their family. And even people who
didn’t watch it felt it was important
to have.’’

Especially in a Canada struggling
to regain a cohesive sense of itself,
Davies believes the cancellation is
particularly difficult. He says the
CBC should be 100 per cent Ca-
nadian content.

“} know that times are tough,
but when you start cutting back
regional shows it doesn’t make

JACKSON DAVIES is back on stage in Speed-the-Plow.

EVELYN
JACOB

spotlight feature

sense...Beachcombers was impor-
tant because people could tune in
and see another part of Canada.
We were working-class people,
and that’s what Canada is made
up of — working-class, small-town
people.

“tT don’t mind saying that if
CBC is supposed to be a Canadian
broadcasting company, it
shouldn't be programming any
American programs.”’

With the exception of Tom
Selleck’s, Davies considered his to

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be the most enviable TV job in
North America.

“I guess Selleck had fun in
Hawaii, but to work where you
live, to run around in boats in the
summer, was a real treat. The cast
had a lovely relationship — we
didn’t have to deal with Toronto.
It was like a summer camp.”

For most actors, the loss of a
steady job comes as a tremendous
financial blow, but Davies hasn't
suffered for want of work. He’s
been gainfully employed on
everything from movies of the
week (Atlantis Films’ Big Horn), to
feature films (Tri-Star Pictures’
Bingo) to a new Kurt Vonnegut
series (Welcome to the Monkey
House).

And for the first time in two
years, he’s returned to the stage to
star with Jay Brazéau in David
Mamet's Speed-The-Plow. (A

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J. Constable

leading British playwright,
Mamet's film credits include The
Postman Always Rings Twice, The
Verdict, The Untouchables, House
of Games and We're No Angels).

As Bobby Gould, a powerful
production manager for a major
Hollywood film studio, Davies
grapples with the dilemma of mak-
ing a violent, racist blockbuster
guaranteed to bring fame and for-
tune or an arty film about radia-
tion and the end of the world.

He says the role is a challenge
and the pattern of dialogue, a
strain (the characters constantly
speak over each other). it’s the
first time he and Brazeau (who
plays Charlie Fox) have acted on
Stage together. (They worked
together on The New Bundolo TV
series).

And, according to Davies, the
dilemma of remaining true to one-
self versus selling out to commer-
cialism struck particularly close to
home.

A few years back he rejected an
offer to play one of the lawyers
who defends the assaulters in The
Accused, ar: emotionally tense
retelling of the New Bedford,
Massachusetts gang-rape case
which earned actor Jodie Foster an
Academy Award.

He says ne didn’t want to be
associated with such brutality and
was troubled by the film’s poten-
tial to incite real-life copycats.

“‘As an actor there are things !
don’t do. The whole idea of being
assaulted viciously — | couldn't
help but think someone out there
might see the movie and go out
and do the same thing.”

“Once you have your own
family you Icok at things different-
ly. It's a very personal thing, but |
try to stay away from these types
of films.”

For a cop who pulled out a gun
only once in 16 years, it’s not hard
to see why Davies felt uncomfort-
able with the role. Talking about it
brings him back to the
Beachcombers.

“It was gentle, kind of like Ca-
nadians are.”

Davies believes there is still a
place for a Canadian family series,
and he warns that such “gentle
Tv" is quickly being replaced by
American-style dramas full of guns,
viglence and sex.

“That kind of drama (the
Beachcombers) was not seen as
hip. We're at a crossroads now
and we really have to be careful.”

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